They're Not Human
by keelhaulrose
Summary: Draco is forced to confront his past as Harry looks towards the future.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: The ever popular "they aren't my characters, it is my story, I'm not profiting"**

**This story is in response to the Reality challenge. It has to do with child abuse. If that upsets you, please don't read.**

**New note for 10/30- I've gotten a suggestion that I make this story more than a one-shot. I have an idea of where I could go with it, but I'm not sure if there'd be the same type of response for it. Please shoot me a review or something telling me what you think. I'd really appreciate it.**

Draco watched Harry sway on the dance floor, laughing to himself. Harry was such a flirt. Always had been, probably always would be. It was one of the benefits of being The Chosen One. Men and women were always throwing themselves at him. And it was always Draco on his arm when he returned home for the night.

They had kept their relationship secret for a long while, mostly because they had known that the moment they came out was the last moment Lucius Malfoy, and by extension Narcissa, ever spoke to their only child. And their predictions didn't disappoint. When Draco announced that he was moving in with his boyfriend, Harry Potter, his father insisted he leave and never come back. Had Draco not been a fully-trained wizard able to defend himself with his wand he would have feared the moment more than anything, would probably still be in the closet. The things Lucius Malfoy was capable of...

Harry fell beside Draco and gave him a drunken kiss on the cheek. "Let's say you and I get out of here," he murmured into the blonde hair, nipping at Draco's earlobe.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Draco replied, kissing Harry passionately.

They made their way outside and hailed a cab home. They made out in the backseat for a while, much to the annoyance of the cab driver who checked his rear view mirror several times and said something and said something along the lines of "Damn fairies."

Draco was extremely excited when they got to their flat. He immediately ushered Harry to the bedroom. He threw the messy-haired boy upon the bed, and attacked his neck with kisses. He was fumbling with Harry's belt buckle when Harry spoke.

"Let's have a baby," Harry said, staring into Draco's grey eyes.

Draco was stunned for a moment, and forgot what he was doing. His mind immediately flashed to his past.

_"Erase it," Lucius said to his fifteen year old son. Draco looked from his father to the picture he was drawing. He had spent hours drawing the perfect dragon. Great wings stretched over a majestic purple body, the head upturned in a menacing, silent roar. _

_"Why?" Draco asked in horror. He had poured his heart into drawing the dragon, and his father was asking him to destroy it._

_His skull was suddenly on fire as Lucius' cane found it. He felt a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face as Lucius' voice spoke from somewhere in the distance. "The only reason you should need is that you were told to do it," the elder Malfoy growled. "Everything else is superfluous."_

_Another sting as the cane found it's second mark across Draco's back. He felt tears well up in his eyes, but he knew better than to cry. Crying made it worse. It was a sign of weakness. And no Malfoy would be weak. As quickly as he could he reached for his eraser and quickly rubbed the beautiful creature off the page. When he was finished he shoved the paper at his father to prove the task was done._

_Lucius Vanished the pad of paper and the pencil nearby. "I don't ever want to catch you drawing again, Draco. You need to learn something more productive. Come downstairs later, I'll teach you to duel." A wave of his wand and Draco's cuts were closed and the bruises healed. The pain remained._

"So happy you can't say anything?" Harry smiled.

"No," Draco said, his voice hoarse.

"What?"

"No," Draco reiterated, getting up from the bed and collapsing in the seat nearby.

"If you're worrying about losing your girlish figure Ginny Weasley said she's be happy to surrogate..."

"I said no!" Draco roared before going downstairs. He poured himself a glass of vodka and drained it with one gulp. He poured another and collapsed on the couch, covering his eyes. He had endured seventeen years of Lucius' beatings, his berating, his temper, so controlled in public, so violent in private. There was no way that he'd raise a child. He wouldn't know where to begin.

_____________________________________________

_"You idiot boy," his father hissed, as another round of the curse coursed through his body, setting fire to his very nerves. His crime this time had been no fault of his own. It had been Dobby. Harry had caused Dobby to be set free, and now Draco was paying for it. It didn't matter that there was really no reason. Lucius' normal whipping post was no longer available, but his son was around._

_The curse lifted, but the fire remained. It was just dulled. He was on the floor, tears streaming from his eyes. He wasn't able to stop them. He turned away from his father, hoping he didn't notice. But Lucius was observant. He noticed his son's tears._

_"You're pathetic," he sneered, and he swept from the room. Narcissa, sporting her own bruise, crouched by her son and gently ran her fingers though his hair. Even that slight touch was painful, and Draco winced._

_"It's okay," his mother whispered at him. "It's over now. He's going to the Ministry for a while, he won't be back until later tonight."_

_Draco dragged himself back to his feet, ignoring his mother. He had heard it all before. While his father's absence might earn him a few hour reprieve, the man would be back once the Ministry closed for the night. There was a good chance that he would be in a drunken stupor, looking for something to take his pent up anger out on, and his wife and son would be a good target. In a few days they were supposed to go visit the same Ministry that often angered Lucius so. Their bruises would be healed, the welts hidden. Draco and Narcissa would be standing a few feet behind their abuser, smiling when needed, saying nothing unless addressed, and otherwise giving an air of being a functional family if not a horribly happy one._

_______________________________________

Harry sat in the bed wondering what he had done that pissed Draco off so much. All he had done was mention that he wanted kids, and his boyfriend had stormed off. It was a big step, and something the they hadn't talked about before moving in together. They were young, they enjoyed the night life, they both had jobs that demanded much of their attention, children were not on the back burner, they weren't even in the kitchen.

Harry hadn't thought of being a father until recently, when Ron and Hermione had their first child. Holding little Rose in his arms brought all sorts of paternal feelings. He was reluctant to ask Draco for a baby. He waited until he had all of it worked out. He had asked Ginny to be the surrogate, and she agreed enthusiastically. He had researched flats with two bedrooms or more. He researched child care providers, both Muggle and Wizard. He had even picked out a few Healers that specialized in pediatrics. The baby would come into a very informed and very involved home.

He had envisioned a hesitant Draco. He would have questions, and Harry would provide answers. After a long conversation Draco would yield, and they'd fall asleep in each other's arms, on their way to being parents. A few times he had even envisioned an enthusiastic Draco hugging him while screaming "yes, of course!" and afterwards they would have the kind of sex of expectant parents, unrushed, savoring each moment because soon it would be difficult to find the time or energy.

What he hadn't expected, however, was Draco flat out refusing and running off. While he had never shown any interest in having children, he had never shown an aversion to it, either. He had held Rose Weasley easy enough, though he had passed her off as soon as she started crying. Harry knew that Lucius and Narcissa hadn't been the greatest examples of how parents could be, but that shouldn't stop Draco. Many people who had been somewhat neglected become great parents. For crying out loud, Vernon and Petunia had been terrible "parents", and he was sure he'd be a great dad.

Harry knew his boyfriend well. It would do no good to go running after him. Give him a few hours, maybe overnight, and he'd be ready to talk.

__________________________________________

Draco sat on the couch all night, staring out of the window but not seeing anything. He supposed that he should go talk to Harry, explain why he wouldn't have a child, but he had no desire to explain himself. Harry knew that Lucius was somewhat of an absent father, Draco felt no need to tell him the whole story. Or even half of it. Harry was a happy man without knowing.

Maybe it wasn't fair. Maybe he should give fatherhood a chance. It would make Harry happy. Draco knew that this was coming at some point. Harry was a natural father, and at some point he was going to want a baby, probably several. It was one of those things Draco filed in the back of his mind as a conversation that was going to rear it's ugly head at some point, but he wasn't going to worry about it until they were older. He had thought his boyfriend was having too much fun to want to be burdened with a child. By the time he thought Harry would want a baby he thought he might be far enough removed from Lucius and all those memories that he might not have to turn Harry down flat.

His limbs felt like stone as he stood and, slower than he had ever walked in his life, returned to the bedroom. Harry was sitting up in bed, reading a book he had read several times before. Draco saw his eyes dart up to meet his momentarily, but they returned quickly to the book at the sight of Draco's icy face. Draco sat on the bed, and resisted the urge to cover himself with the comforter, fall asleep, and forget anything was ever said. Instead he took a deep breath and, with a shaking voice, began to talk.

"You deserve to know why I don't want children," he whispered. His voice sounded as though he was hearing it coming from the bottom of a lake.

Harry responded by closing his book and placing it on the nightstand. Gingerly he took Draco's hand in his and lovingly stroked it.

"Lucius was not just a bad father. He..."

Harry's hand closed on his in support as though he knew what was about to come.

"He beat me, he beat my mother, he beat the house-elves, he basically beat anything he could reach," Draco said, really fast.

Harry's arm reached around his shoulders and pulled him close. Draco felt a tear run down his cheek, but he had no energy to wipe it away.

"It started when I was four. I had wet the bed. He came in and found it. Blood... lots of blood. That's what I remember from that first time. After that it just got worse. Anytime he was angry it was nearly impossible to get out of his way. His cane, his fists, his wand, anything went. And he was skilled at healing charms, so no one knew." He paused for a moment to rest and gather his thoughts. Harry gave him a light kiss on the cheek in support.

"I don't want children," Draco continued after a long moment. "I don't want them because for my whole life everyone has told me how much like my father I am. I'm afraid they're right."

"But you're not like that..." Harry whispered.

"How do you know?" Draco snapped. "Did you think Lucius was like that?"

"No..." Harry said cautiously. "I thought Lucius was an evil prat, but I didn't know..."

The silence hung in the air for a few long moments.

"You can get over this," Harry said, a note of pleading in his voice. "I survived practically my whole life at the Dursley's. I don't think that their charming example is going to make have any effect on my parenting."

Draco said nothing. There was a huge difference between what Lucius had done to him and what Vernon and Petunia Dursley had done to their nephew. While no one would ever consider the Dursley's for parents of the year they had, at the very least, never laid a hand on Harry.

"I've always had an instinct to protect children from whatever harm I could," Harry whispered. "I can't see how anyone would ever want to raise a hand to their child. I don't get it. They're just as human as we are, and yet..."

"They're not human," Draco shot back.

Harry nodded. He kissed Draco's cheek before snuggling up to his chest. A few minutes later Draco felt the raven-haired man fall asleep in his arms. He sighed and closed his eyes. The conversation was over, for now. He had prevailed, the pitter patter of little feet was not in his immediate future. However the topic would come up again. And maybe then he'd be prepared for it.

**A/N: If you liked it, please review. If you didn't like it please review. Either way I'd like to hear from you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: What I've decided to do is publish a second chapter. Based on the feedback I'll either keep going, or cut the second chapter and take this back to a one-shot. Let me know what you think.**

The doorbell rang and Harry rushed off to answer it. Draco stayed behind in their room, fuming. They had plans to go out that night, but Ron and Hermione had called. Arthur Weasley had an unfortunate mishap with some sort of cursed doorknob, and he was going to have to stay in St. Mungos for a few days. Ron and Hermione had agreed to go stay by his bedside that night, as one of the side effects was incurable sleeplessness and Molly couldn't take another night awake. They called Harry asking if he and Draco could baby-sit Rose, and Harry agreed without consulting Draco. Draco had no desire to spend a night with a crying infant, and felt like Harry was just trying to show him how wonderful having a child around could be.

"Draco, come say hi!" Harry's voice carried through the flat.

Draco appeared in the doorway of their room. Very stiffly he nodded towards Hermione and Ron. "Granger. Weasley." Then he slammed the door and returned to the bed. He took out a book, but he couldn't concentrate. He heard Harry apologizing for his actions, and taking a cooing Rose from her parents. A few minutes later Harry, holding the happily wiggling baby, opened the door to the bedroom.

"That was really mature, _Malfoy_," Harry rolled his eyes.

"So was volunteering me to baby-sit," Draco shot back.

"You don't have to do anything. I'll do it if it bothers you that much."

"Good. Now take it away before it starts fussing."

"It? Rose is a girl, you know that perfectly well."

"At this age a fully clothed baby girl can be rarely distinguished from a fully clothed baby boy. All it is right now is a crying, needy, pooping mess."

Harry sighed deeply. "You know, you're impossible sometimes."

Draco opened the book and turned to the first page. "I try to be," he said with finality. Harry sighed again and left the room. Draco emerged a few hours later to find Harry sitting on the floor, scrubbing the carpet.

"What happened?" Draco asked.

Harry looked up at him, and the look of annoyance on his face quickly vanished. "I was changing her nappy and after I took the old one off she pissed before I could get the new one on."

Draco rolled his eyes, pulled out his wand, and with a wave the stain disappeared.

"Thanks. I forgot that spell, and I was afraid of making it worse. You know how bad a housekeeper I am," he smiled, rising to his feet and nuzzling Draco's neck.

"Everybody knows you put the new nappy under the old one in case of just such a mishap," Draco said, walking towards the kitchen to get something to eat.

Harry's face became somewhat triumphant. "So you do know a thing or two about babies."

Draco shook his head while pulling out leftover Chinese. "All I know is that, and if you bounce them and hear sloshing there's a good chance you're about to get spit up on." He cast a warming spell on the food, placed it on a plate, and started towards the bedroom again.

"Aw, come on. Stay out here," Harry said, blocking his path.

Draco looked down at Rose, who wrinkled her nose at him. "It doesn't seem like I'm wanted."

"She's just confused about who you are. You haven't seen her in months."

"Yeah. I haven't. So why start now?" Draco pushed past Harry into the bedroom and shut the door. He watched a little TV, ate his food, and laid down for sleep. A little while later Harry came in, stripped off his shirt, changed into some pajama pants, and snuggled up next to Draco. He was quickly asleep.

At three in the morning Rose's shrill cries carried through the flat, waking Draco. He turned over and shook Harry slightly.

"Whazzamatter?" Harry murmured, his eyes half-opening.

"She's crying," Draco hissed.

"She'll be okay," Harry laid back down and buried his head in his pillow. "She'll cry herself back to sleep soon."

Draco laid back and waited for the cries to stop. Five minutes later that had not only not ceased, but they had grown more intense. He shook Harry again, but Harry only moaned, turned over, and put his pillow over his head. Draco sighed and reluctantly got out of bed. He went to the portable crib Rose was sleeping in. Her face was contorted in a shrill cry. Not knowing what to do Draco picked her up. He sat in the rocking chair Harry had conjured up earlier and, with Rose lying across his lap, he started rocking. The crying did not cease. Draco summoned a bottle from the kitchen, warmed it with a spell, and placed the nipple in front of Rose. She stopped crying and lifted her neck to take it in her mouth. She started sucking happily, making little sighing noises.

"So that's all you needed, huh?" Draco murmured at the baby. She stopped sucking long enough to give a little smile at him. He thought he felt the corners of his mouth turn up slightly for a quick moment. Rose quickly finished off the bottle, and started fussing slightly again. Draco looked around for what she might want when his eyes fell on the burp rag. With a face of disgust he draped the cloth over his shoulder and lifted Rose up. He started to rub her back, and a moment later was rewarded with a loud belch.

He held Rose at arms length and looked at her. "That was certainly a loud and disgusting noise for such a little thing." The baby responded by wiggling and smiling at him. Draco stood and placed Rose back in her crib, but as soon as he turned away the baby started crying again.

He sighed and turned back to the infant. "What now?" he asked, but as he said it he smelled something that gave him the answer. He was sorely tempted to go wake Harry, but the baby cried louder when he turned, so, sighing again, he reached into the crib and picked her up. He placed her gently on the floor and changed her nappy. _Some Slytherin Prince I am,_ he thought_._

A second time he gently placed Rose into the crib, and a second time she responded by crying loudly.

"What this time?" he hissed, feeling a wave of anger rushing over him. He felt like punching something, but instead he turned, grabbed the back of the chair. He took a few deep breaths until he felt himself calm back down. He turned back to the baby, who was still crying, and picked her up. He sat back in the rocking chair and started rocking, and Rose quieted down immediately. She cooed quietly, and nestled up to him. A few minutes later she fell asleep. Very carefully he laid her back into the crib. She stayed sleeping, so he crept back into his room and laid back in the bed. Harry had uncovered his head and was snoring slightly. Draco shook his head, laid down, and rolled himself in the comforter. A few minutes later he was asleep.

At six in the morning he and Rose repeated the dance. He had laid back down at seven thirty, and as he did Harry awoke. Harry stretched and gave Draco a kiss on the cheek.

"Rose was good last night, wasn't she?" Harry smiled.

Draco scoffed. "Twice she woke me up crying, and twice you told me to ignore her, that she'd go back to sleep on her own."

"Didn't she?"

"No," Draco snapped. "I had to go out there to feed her, change her, and rock her back to sleep."

"Oh," Harry replied, his head hanging slightly.

"Now, if you don't mind," Draco said angrily, tugging the sheets over his head again, "I'm exhausted. I'm going back to bed."

Harry nodded, afraid to approach him. Instead he turned and left the room.

Draco shook his head before falling asleep. If anything, the babysitting plot had backfired. He had never wanted to be a father less.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, just need to throw in the "I own nothing, I'm not making a profit" statement here.**

**R/R please!**

Draco woke up when the sun hit his face, but he didn't open his eyes. He felt Harry's body pressed up against his. He could smell the stale sweat in Harry's hair, a memento from last night. Draco's boyfriend had apologized for the disastrous babysitting night by booking them a surprise long weekend on some island in the Caribbean. They had their own private beach house, several hundred yards of private, magically-protected beach, and everything they needed. They had spent the past few days making love and reconnecting with each other. Ever since Harry had suggested having a child their relationship had become strained.

He gently rubbed Harry's back, torn between a desire to stay in bed cuddling and a need to get up to use the bathroom. The need beat out the desire, and he carefully got out of bed. Harry stirred, rolled over, and cuddled up to a pillow where he fell back asleep. Draco went to the bathroom, and wandered into the kitchen. The all-inclusive magical resort included fully-prepared meals, but he really felt like cooking today. As if the house anticipated this the kitchen suddenly became stocked with everything he needed to make his favorite breakfast.

He had just finished making a large meal when he felt two arms wrap around his waist. Lips found his neck and he relaxed against Harry.

"What's for breakfast, lover?" Harry whispered into Draco's ear.

"Omelets, French toast, and some fruit. Hungry?"

"Always, though if you want, we could delay breakfast a little bit," Harry nibbled Draco's ear.

Draco spun to meet the brown eyes. "If you want to, but then the omelets will get cold and gross."

Harry looked like he was in thought for a moment. "I'll rain check sex for your breakfast, but only if you promise we do it before we have to leave today."

"It's a promise," Draco said, kissing Harry passionately. They sat at the table and Draco served the meal.

"This is delicious," Harry smiled.

"Thank you," Draco said. They ate in silence for a few moments before Draco spoke again, this time slowly and with deliberation. "So, theoretically speaking, what kind of day care were you looking into?"

A look of joy crossed over Harry's face, but when he spoke he was reserved and cautious. "I've looked into both Muggle and Wizarding day care..."

"No child of mine will ever be in a Muggle day care," Draco hissed.

"Does that mean..?"

"Not yet. I'm speaking in theoretical terms here. I've got thinking to do, and I want to make sure I've got all the information."

"So you're actually thinking about it?"

Draco sighed. "I'm not saying I am, I'm not saying I'm not. I'm just saying that I'd like all the information you've no doubt spent all sorts of time scrounging up to convince me."

Harry smirked. "How did you know?"

Draco smiled and placed his hand on Harry's. "We've been going out how long? You never come to me about some sort of big decision without covering your bases. I'm pretty sure that you've learned that little skill from Hermione."

"The woman nagged me into submission," Harry raised his hands in a mock pleading gesture.

"So, all it takes is a little nagging?" Draco smirked.

Harry slapped him playfully. "All it takes from Hermione is a little nagging. You know how persistent she is."

"Yeah, yeah. It's better to give in than deal with her."

"Watch it. That's one of my best friends you're talking about!"

"Don't get me started on the Weasley clan," Draco said playfully.

"You be nice," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Molly Weasley is practically our mother."

"And I will say nothing against her. Nor will I say anything against Ginny, who has been nothing but nice to me."

"And George is your boss."

"How many people actually like their boss? Besides, the rest, including Ron, still think I have the worth of something that came out of a Blast-Ended Screwts rear-end."

"That might be because you were a bit of a git at Hogwarts."

"You know why I was," Draco muttered, his mood visibly darkening.

"Yes," Harry said, looking for a change of subject. "Back to the day cares?"

"Gladly," Draco replied.

________________________________________________

The next day Harry returned to work, while Draco stayed behind to work at home. He had been hired by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to do all the books and handle the money. George trusted him to reign in any spending that wasn't deemed completely necessary. One of the 'unnecessary' expenses was an office for Draco, who agreed to work from home and hold meetings in George's office a couple of times a week. The meetings were tense at first, George was still sore at anything having to deal with Voldemort. He had only hired Draco on Harry's pleading, and after time went by the two warmed up to each other.

He had a little time before he had to start working, so he took a cup of coffee out on the patio of the flat. Harry had told him everything he had planned out about having a child. The man had put a lot of thought into this, and it might be time to reconsider his stance on having children.

A baby would mean big changes. A new flat, maybe even a house. Babies were a lot of work. And he still wasn't sure that he would make a good father. What if, God forbid, he turned out to be like Lucius? Could he really risk what he might do to some innocent baby?

He sighed. Maybe he needed to talk to someone about it. Not Harry. He was too close to the situation, and would push to have a baby. Someone professional. But who? He was never one to trust a complete stranger. Sure, there were professionals out there, but he had talked to one while working through coming out to Lucius. He had made him feel like a talking pocketbook, that he didn't care. Of course he wouldn't listen if Draco wasn't paying ridiculous amounts of money for the privilege.

He did know one professional. Hermione. She had become a Wizarding Psychologist after Hogwarts. He trusted her to be able to talk to him, and that she would care about the situation. He sighed, went inside, and scribbled her a note requesting a meeting. He sent it off with Artemis, his Eagle Owl.

He went to work. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Intrigued he opened it to find the Muggle postman standing there, looking confused.

"Are you Harry Potter?" the postman asked.

"No, he's my flat mate. Can I help you?" Draco replied.

"I have a letter here for a Harry Potter. You know, I haven't delivered mail to your flat since the old tenants moved out. I thought this place was abandoned. How do you go three years and never get post?"

Draco shrugged. "Inter web?"

"You mean the Internet?"

"Sure," Draco said, taking the letter.

"I just wanted to make sure I was delivering to the right place."

"Yeah," Draco said, closing the door. He looked down at the blue envelope in his hand. He didn't recognize the return address, and as much as he felt like opening it he decided to wait until Harry got home.

Artemis returned a few moments before Harry walked through the door. Hermione gladly agreed to start seeing Draco as a patient, and gave him a meeting for Thursday morning. Draco stuffed the letter in his desk as he heard the front door open. He didn't want Harry to see that he was seeking some kind of counseling.

"How was your day?" Harry asked, planting a kiss on Draco's lips.

"It was OK," Draco replied, kissing Harry back. "Had an interesting encounter with the Muggle postman."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He dropped this off," Draco said, handing the envelope to Harry. Harry opened it, read it, and nearly fell on the floor laughing.

"This is rich!" Harry cried.

"What is it?"

"Those money-grubbing pigs!" Harry laughed.

"I'll just let you laugh, tell me when you're finished."

"It's from the Dursleys," Harry explained.

"Those Muggles you lived with?"

"Yeah. I kept in touch with Dudley, he didn't think I was so bad since I saved his life. Apparently Vernon and Petunia got word of our correspondence, they've invited me 'and guest' to Dudley's son's first birthday party on Saturday."

"You can't seriously be thinking about going," Draco said in disgust.

"They're just sending me the invite for the gift."

"You can't be thinking of sending them one."

"I'm going to go," Harry said, beaming.

"You're what?"

"I'm going. Want to go?"

"You're insane. Why do you want to see them again?"

"Because Dudley isn't so bad. And it would piss my Aunt and Uncle off to no end if I showed up. It would piss them off even more if I brought you, as you are so not a Muggle."

"And do you think that's really a good idea?"

"Seriously, Draco, what ever happened to that rebellious spirit you had in Hogwarts?"

Draco sighed and threw his head back in defeat. His choice now was to stay home on Saturday or to go with his boyfriend to visit the closest thing to family he had. "I'll go. What time is it?"

**A/N: OK, I need the comic relief of the Dursleys in here. Plus it'll help Draco examine himself more. Just wait for it before you slam me.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, this was supposed to be a lighthearted chapter, but it went the other way pretty quickly. I meant it as a place for Harry to confront his past, but, well, I won't ruin it. Please review! Remember, Santa's watching, he knows if you don't review ;)**

Harry and Draco Apparated to a safe point a half mile from Privet Drive, then walked towards Number Four in silence. They stopped just before the gravel drive.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Draco asked, fingering the present he was carrying.

"Yeah, I am. Seriously, Dudley isn't so bad," Harry replied, straightening Draco's hair, then ruffling his up as best he could. "Another thing that will drive Petunia nuts," he explained to Draco's inquisitive glare.

"I still think this is stupid," Draco murmured, but he followed Harry up the drive and to the front door. He found a sudden interest in his shoes as Harry rang the doorbell.

"And that's because it's the fourth hole!" Vernon finished a joke to mild laughter as he answered the front door. His smiling face fell, however, when he turned to greet his latest guest. "Potter!" he hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"You invited me," Harry said, holding out his invitation.

"But... I... You..." Vernon's face turned deep purple in anger.

"I'd love to come in," Harry said, pushing past Vernon. Draco cautiously slunk past the angry man as if touching his could cause great bodily harm. They entered the living room where Dudley sat. Beside him was his wife, a woman who greatly resembled Pansy Parkinson, though her nose was more upturned. Playing with a ball on the floor was their son who resembled a tiny, slimmer Dudley.

"Harry!" Dudley said, looking up in surprise. He stood to shake Harry's hand. Petunia stood behind him, a mixture of pride in Dudley and disgust at Harry on her face.

"How are you, Dudley?" Harry replied, shaking his cousin's hand.

"I'm good. This is my wife, Anita, and my son, Dudley Junior," Dudley said, and Harry shook Anita's hand. Draco stayed as close to the wall as he could, as if his black suit could suddenly match the putrid wallpaper and he'd blend in.

"Who's that?" Petunia snapped, nodding curtly towards Draco.

"This is Draco Malfoy," Harry said, pushing his boyfriend forward. Draco stood, his arms crossed, as the assembled family looked him up and down. "He's my boyfriend," Harry finished smugly.

Petunia got a look on her face that looked as though she just sucked a bowl full of lemons.

"Well, welcome, Draco," Anita said, standing and extending her hand. Draco shook it quickly and returned it to it's crossed position. No one else offered a welcoming gesture. Draco wished he had just stayed home.

It was a long moment before anyone spoke. Harry motioned for Draco to sit in an armchair next to Aunt Marge. Ripper started growling at Draco when he sat, but a patented Malfoy Glare silenced the animal. Dudley started the conversation again, Harry went to get some wine, and when he returned he sat on the mantle. Draco did as best he could to remain as unnoticed as possible. Marge, however, was ready to delight in his discomfort.

"So, Draco," Marge said with a smirk. "What do you do?"

"I do all the books for a growing business," he replied, disdain thick in his voice.

Vernon looked as though he was torn. On one hand this man was dating the person he hated most in the world, on the other he was a businessman for a successful company, something Vernon usually had the utmost respect for.

"An educated man?" Marge asked, her smirk disappearing.

"Yes, I am," Draco replied again.

"Where did you study?"

Draco shot a look at Harry, who looked amused by the whole situation. Getting no help Draco just replied, "America. Father found the English schools to be lacking when it comes to business studies." It was only partially a lie, the best Wizarding business school was in America and Draco had attended, but he had no idea about Muggle schools and hoped his answer worked.

Harry nodded in approval. Marge, finding nothing reprehensible about Draco other than his choice in partner, turned towards Harry. "And what do _you_ do now, boy?"

Harry beamed back at her. "Law enforcement," he replied with a smile.

"Turned your life around, did you?"

"Yeah, St. Brutus' really whipped my ass into shape."

Draco's head whipped towards Harry. 'St. Brutus?' he mouthed.

Harry gave him a look that clearly said 'I'll tell you later.'

"Apparently not enough, with a mouth like that," Marge said, her lip curling.

"Presents!" Dudley cried, motioning towards the large pile of gifts. "Let's open presents!"

Happy for the distraction Anita and Dudley helped their son plow through the pile of wrapped boxes. Little Dudley got enough clothes for three children for a year, a stack of toys, and a library of books. Harry had pushed to buy a little magic kit, but Draco had eventually talked him into a toy that played music and lit up. Harry's defiant contribution had been to bewitch the batteries to last forever.

After opening a new soccer ball little Dudley held it up. He beamed and ran towards Anita, but bypassed her and stopped at Draco's feet. He deposited the ball in Draco's lap and smiled up at the blonde man.

Draco took the ball and rolled it across the floor. Little Dudley giggled gleefully and wobbled after it. He returned a few moments later with the ball, and he deposited it back on Draco's lap again. Draco took the ball and rolled it across the floor again, and again Dudley waddled after it happily.

Harry smiled as Dudley returned to Draco. Frowning, Draco removed his suit jacket and gingerly slid to the floor. Dudley stopped where he was and looked in curiosity at Draco. He then squealed, threw the ball at Draco, and waited for the man to roll the ball back. After returning to Draco, Little Dudley deposited the drool-soaked ball into Draco's waiting arms. Disgusted, Draco rolled the ball a little farther, and, without thinking, rolled up his sleeves to avoid getting more saliva on them.

"That's quite an... interesting tattoo you have there, Draco," Anita said, motioning towards the Dark Mark permanently burned onto Draco's forearm.

"Oh, yeah," Draco murmured, turning his arm so the Mark was facing the ground away from the prying eyes drawn to it. "People do dumb things in college," he muttered the explanation.

Petunia's eyes widened as she glanced at the Mark. Someone must have told her what the brand represented. She looked in horror at Draco, then Vernon, then Harry, but she didn't dare say anything.

"Is there a meaning behind it?" Anita asked, trying to force conversation.

Draco looked at Petunia, as he had caught her look of fear. He chose his words carefully to avoid an outburst. "A group of us got them. We sort of followed the leader. We got it to show our loyalty to the group, and now I horribly regret getting it. I don't see that group anymore."

Harry nodded his approval, and Petunia entertained everyone by presenting a large buffet of food. Everything was delicious, and by the time the meal was over, everyone had imbibed enough that the tension had died out somewhat. Everyone had a good laugh as Little Dudley dove head first into his cake. After a while many of the guests started leaving, but Dudley and Harry had gotten into a conversation leaving Draco no chance of escape.

One Marge had left, Harry and Draco were the last guests. Petunia put Little Dudley to bed and then sat opposite Draco and stared daggers at him.

"I know what that mark is," she hissed.

Dudley and Harry stopped talking immediately, and all eyes turned towards Draco.

Draco just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"You were one of _them_."

"Yeah. I was. My father was, so I was. I've tried to get rid of it, it's cursed on."

Petunia whipped towards Harry. "We had to leave our home. We had to go into hiding. Dudley had to leave Smeltings. While we were gone _they_ came into our home and tore it apart. It took me three months to get it back right. And you bring one of _them_ into my household?" Her voice got progressively more shrill as she worked herself up.

"Yeah, I did. He's not like that anymore. He's my boyfriend, I think I'd know if he was still off doing the things they did."

Anita looked at Dudley for an explanation for the cryptic conversation, but the look on his face kept her quiet.

"I think we should go, Harry," Draco murmured.

"We took you in," Petunia continued, not hearing Draco. "We gave you food, clothing, shelter..."

"Barely, and only because you were afraid of Dumbledore," Harry shot back.

Vernon was turning red in the face, but he didn't join the argument.

"We still gave it to you! We let you go to that freak school..."

Harry snorted. "You fought it tooth and nail! If it had cost you a dime you wouldn't have done it."

"We put up with your magic! Even though you were a worthless wizard just like your father we let you come back from that school during breaks!" Petunia screeched.

Anita's gasp brought everyone out of their trances. "Magic? Wizard?" she whispered.

"I'll tell you later," Dudley murmured, but Vernon saw an opportunity.

"Potter, and most likely this Malfoy character here, are freaks. They can do magic," he sneered.

"And _he_," Petunia wiggled a bony finger at Draco, "Has a mark of one of those Death Eaters." Her anger returned to Harry. "First those wizards took my sister, then that wizard and the Death Eaters killed her. And after all they took from you, from me, you start dating one of them?"

Harry laughed. "Don't pretend you gave a shit about my mother after she went to Hogwarts!"

"I spoke with her. Freak or not, she was still my sister. It was only because I loved her I took you into my home. Dumbledore couldn't force us to keep you, I did it for Lily!"

"Is that how much you loved your sister? Taking her child in and treating him worse than you would some dog?" Harry shouted back.

"How dare you!"

"Don't say that. You had me living in a damn closet for eleven years! I got the trash of this family, I think the only thing you didn't give me second-hand was the food. Unless you thought I was doing something wrong I got less attention than a house plant! Anything bad that happened around here and you deprived me of what little I had. If I had gotten killed at Hogwarts you probably would have celebrated. You didn't talk to me unless it was to belittle me. Hell, I'd give you all the gold in my vault if you could name my two best friends at Hogwarts."

"The things we put up with! The stares after all of those owls showed up. Vernon losing his promotion because you dropped the pudding on Mrs. Mason's head. Our living room blown apart by wizards..."

Harry opened his mouth to shout something back, but Draco stood up and blocked his view of Petunia. "Let's go, Harry. Now." Harry looked up at Draco to protest, but caught himself looking into something greatly resembling the face of Lucius Malfoy. It was no time to be protesting against Draco. He stood and started for the door.

"Keep in touch, Dudley," Harry murmured as he walked past his cousin, and Dudley nodded dumbly in return.

"Good thing you've got your boyfriend to control you," Vernon said smugly.

Harry whipped around. "I don't need controlling. I've never needed controlling."

"You were unmanageable while you were here!" Vernon shot back.

"No, you just thought that I was. Maybe I wouldn't have been such a thorn in your side if I didn't _know_ I was completely unwanted."

"What, Potter, sad that we didn't love you like a son?"

Harry said nothing, just stood fuming.

"Why don't you go to your boyfriend's little Death Eater family and find love there?" Petunia smirked triumphantly. "I'm sure the bastards will love you like we never would."

Rage crashed over Draco. He didn't remember doing it, but the next moment he was standing over a cowering Petunia, wand drawn, looking every inch like his father.

"Draco..." Harry whispered, fear in his voice.

"My father beat me," Draco hissed, sounding like Lucius. "But at least I felt wanted. You're no better than he was. Say what you want to make yourselves feel like I'm lying, but you belong in the trash just like him."

Draco spun, pushed past a stunned Harry, and swept from the house. The two Apparated back to their flat in silence, where Draco collapsed, crying, in Harry's arms.

"I thought I had it bad," Draco whispered. "I couldn't put up with them."

Harry swallowed and stroked Draco's hair wordlessly. As much as he convinced himself Draco was nothing like his father the episode tonight proved him wrong. And what was worse was Draco knew it, too.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. My class is over, so I should be updating more often. That is, if the Holidays don't kill me first.**

**As always, please review. It really helps to know if people like what I'm doing, or if they think I'm going the wrong direction.**

Draco sat in the waiting room, face hidden behind a newspaper he had no intention of reading. It was taking all his willpower not to get up and leave, but he was doing it for Harry. Even if Harry didn't know he was getting help it would help their relationship in the future.

A harried looking witch emerged from Hermione's door and, without looking around, rushed to the fireplace. A moment later the flames burned green and she was gone.

"Draco?" Hermione called from the doorway. Slowly he folded the paper and without making eye contact followed her into her office. The room was warm and inviting, done in light colors with several comfortable-looking places to sit. She motioned for him to pick a place to sit, and he chose an overstuffed armchair, and she sat opposite on a couch.

"How are you doing today?" Hermione asked with a smile.

Draco rolled his eyes.

Hermione chuckled. "I understand you have no desire to be here, so why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"

Draco sighed. "Harry wants a baby."

Hermione smiled and nodded knowingly. "I'm guessing you're not completely thrilled with the idea."

"Not completely thrilled is an understatement."

"What would you call it?"

Draco thought about it for a long moment. "Terrified," he finally replied.

"And why would you call it that?"

"Up until this point all my mistakes, all my faults, could only hurt myself or someone with the power to get away from me permanently if they so chose. But a baby can't get away from me if I have problems, or lose my temper, or whatever."

"Do you think you'd have problems controlling your temper around a child?"

"You have known me for how long, Hermione? Have you ever known me to be even-tempered?"

"You've gotten much better recently. You haven't called me Mudblood in years, and it's been even longer since you and Ron have gotten into a shouting match," a smile played across her face.

"But I haven't been perfect. I yelled at those Muggles Harry used to live with on Saturday."

"I'd call that living out a dream."

Draco smirked. "No, living out a dream would be inviting Ginny over for a bit of the bat-bogey hex."

Hermione chuckled again. "What did you yell at them for?"

"Being the Dursleys."

"As well deserved as that is, I doubt that's all there is."

"It just sort of solidified everything that Harry had gone through. He doesn't talk about it very much, so I didn't know how bad it was until I experienced it."

"Did Harry get upset?"

"Momentarily agitated is more like it. I think he was more upset that I became so much like my father than the Dursleys tried to push his buttons."

"How were you like Lucius?"

"I lost my temper. I acted out of rage instead of rationality. Harry said I looked and sounded just like him."

"And what was Lucius like? Other than the charmer he was around me."

"He was abusive," Draco whispered.

Hermione nodded as if this was no surprise to her.

"Everything set him off. A wrinkle on the sheets, less than an O on an assignment, one word against him and he started beating whomever offended him. He was so bloody perfect out in public. He charmed his way out of everything, including a spell in Azkaban after Voldemort fell, but at home he was a monster."

Tears welled in Hermione's eyes for a quick moment. Her voice broke slightly as she asked "does that make you afraid to be a father?"

"As far as I've run from him I keep seeing how much of him I've got in me. I have his short temper. When I was watching Rose her crying just made me so angry..."

"Did you hit her?" Hermione asked, concern in her voice.

"No. I turned away, took some deep breaths, and calmed down before I turned back to her."

Hermione smiled. "And that's how you're not like Lucius. You may have gotten angry, but you knew you were losing control, and you took yourself out of the situation until you could approach it calmly."

"But Rose made me so angry."

"That's part of being a parent. There was one time, when she was very young, that she kept me up for two days crying. I was on my own, Ron was off at an Auror training. No matter what I did I couldn't calm her down. I fell asleep feeding her because I was so tired. I wanted to cry, to scream, to punch something. But I went and did something that made me calm before I went to deal with the baby. "

"Well good thing you didn't punch something, Granger. I know better than most that you can certainly leave a mark if you want."

Hermione smiled. "The best piece of advice my mother gave me was that it's okay to let your baby cry for a while. Especially if you need to do something for yourself. Every parent gets mad. The difference between you and Lucius is that you realized you were losing control and you did what you had to do to keep your wits about you."

"That's all well and good in that one situation, but what if I lose control? What if I do something to my child?"

"I understand you're fear of turning out like Lucius, and I don't think any amount of talking is going to completely erase that fear. All I can do is try to tell you the old cliché that no new parent knows what they're doing completely, and that things are different when it's your child. You are a strong person, Draco. You have a good guy, and between the two of you I have complete confidence you'd be able to raise a happy, healthy baby. You just need a little support to help you deal with the stress of having a young family."

"Meaning come here once a week and pay you ridiculous amounts of money?" Draco smirked.

"Draco Malfoy!" Hermione said, pretending to be insulted. "You know your money is no good here."

Draco shook his head. "You are seeing me as a patient, I'll pay like one."

"No, I am seeing you as a good friend on my lunch hour. No payment expected nor accepted."

Draco looked surprised.

"Don't worry. I'm still going to hold myself to my ethics. I'm not going to discuss anything that was said here, nor anything you ever tell me that you want kept in confidence. And I'll be more than happy to see you on a regular basis from now on if you want."

"I want to be a patient, I wouldn't feel right not paying you."

"How about you buy lunch?"

"Deal. And probably cheaper."

There was a long pause. "So," Hermione said curiously. "Harry really wants a baby?"

"He researched day cares, doctors, crib types, all sorts of things before asking me."

"That doesn't sound like Harry. He's normally much less rational than that."

"Seriously?"

"You should have heard some of the crazy ideas he got worked up about at Hogwarts."

"Any concerning me?"

"About half. So many I thought he was joking when he told Ron and I he was dating you. What do you think you're going to do?"

"I love Harry. I trust Harry. But if my child is going to be seeing these doctors or attending these day cares I need to see them for myself. I want to be just as informed as Harry before I make a final decision."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I thought this story could use a feel-good chapter. Don't worry, we've still got some issues to address.**

**If you read it, please review.**

Draco Apparated to the safe point in Godric's Hallow about a half an hour before his meeting. He used the time to stroll around the area. He passed the small church, and behind it the graveyard where Harry's parents lay to rest. On a whim he walked through the kissing gate and wandered through the headstones until he found the simple marker that read James and Lily Potter.

Wanting to give them something he conjured up a small bouquet and placed it against the stone. He stared at it for a few moments. "I just want to do right by your son," he murmured. "I love Harry, and he deserves anything he ever wants, but I'm scared. I'm not as brave as you."

His words hung in the air for a moment before he turned and walked out. Outside the gate he found the statue of the Potters. He stared at the face of the infant version of his boyfriend. Smiling, happy, unaware of what was about to happen. A little further on was the ruins of their house. This hit Draco harder than anything. This was the house where Voldemort intended to kill the man Draco now loved. Had Voldemort stood right where he was, outside the same gate, thinking, planning? Did he even think about the consequences of what he was going to do? Probably not. It was nothing more than another step he had to climb to reach his ultimate goal of complete power.

When he had a child, would he place himself between a murderer and his offspring and plead for them to be spared? A couple years ago and his answer would have been not only no, but there was a chance he'd hand the child over in the hopes of saving his own skin. Would he now, like James, sacrifice himself in the hopes of giving Harry and his baby the chance of escape?

"Mr. Malfoy?" a voice behind him called.

He turned to face a Muggle realtor beaming at him. "Ms. Malcolm, I presume?" he said, extending his hand.

"Scouting the neighborhood?" she beamed even wider.

"It's a lovely little neighborhood., isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

"Would you like to see the house?"

"It is why I'm here."

They walked three houses down to a two story house set deep on a large plot of land. The realtor pulled out a small packet of paper with all the details of the house. She sifted through it until she found the information she needed.

"It's four bedrooms, like you requested. Set on, let's see, an acre and a half of fenced-in land. Would you like to go in?"

Draco smiled. "It would seem like the waste of a trip if we didn't."

The front door opened to a large foyer. A set of stairs disappeared into the second story. To one side was a dining room, the other a comfortable family room with a couch and several large chairs surrounding a fireplace and a television. The realtor started rambling numbers about room sizes, number of outlets, and facts about the age of the house and remodeling done to it, but Draco took little of it in. They walked through the house, the realtor becoming more and more desperate for talking points as Draco took his time to inspect each room. His mind raced as he thought of the things he and Harry could do with the house. The unfinished basement quickly became a rumpus room filled with different games. The things he could do with the giant master bedroom and bath. His thoughts, however, became distracted when they reached a room that was obviously a baby boy's room. The walls were light blue, a crib sat in one corner, a rocking chair in another, and a changing table in a third. He took a deep breath as he entered the room, and even the long winded realtor gave pause.

His hand rested on the immaculate crib, and he picked up a small brown teddy bear with a blue bow.

"Expecting, Mr. Malfoy?" the realtor asked.

"You could say that," Draco murmured back, placing the bear gently back into the crib. "Getting everything in order so we can have children," he explained.

"Well, this area has several young families, a park, good schools."

"Good neighbors?"

"Of course. It would be a great place to raise a family."

Draco nodded. "It's perfect."

________________________________________

A month later Draco took Harry out to a nice dinner at a restaurant in Paris. They had finished their entree course and the dessert had just arrived when Harry nudged himself up to Draco.

"This is perfect, Draco. Things have been so hectic at work I know we haven't been seeing a lot of each other."

"I have to say, I have an ulterior motive for bringing you here."

"Really. What is it?" Harry said, looking somewhat excited.

Draco placed a small, wrapped box on the table and slid it over to him.

Harry took it, gave Draco a kiss, and quickly opened it. Inside he found a key. He held it up with a quizzical look.

"It's for our new house."

"Our new...?" Harry started, beaming.

"I know I probably should have taken you house-hunting, but I thought it would be a nice gift. I closed on it two weeks ago and I've been decorating it ever since. It's pretty much ready for us to move in, whenever you're ready."

"Are you kidding me? Let's pay the bill and get there! I want to see it!" Harry said excitedly, drawing a few angry looks.

Draco smiled and signaled for the bill.

"Where is it?" Harry said, slightly more controlled this time.

"Godric's Hallow," Draco replied, nervous about Harry's reaction.

Harry looked stunned for a moment. Then his face lit up. "You really thought of Godric's Hallow?"

"It's just a few doors down from your parents house," Draco murmured. "I hope that's okay."

"I'm sure it's what they would have wanted," Harry smiled sadly.

Draco paid the bill and Apparated with Harry into their new house. Harry looked excited, and walked into the family room, where he burst out laughing.

"What's the matter?" Draco asked nervously.

"Green and silver? No wonder you kept it a secret from me. You wanted to decorate in Slytherin colors without me running interference!"

"Just keep looking around," Draco sneered.

Next Harry went to the formal living room, which Draco had left mostly bare, save for Gryffindor's sword displayed on one of the walls.

"That's better," Harry smirked, patting Draco's ass playfully.

Draco responded by pulling Harry into a passionate kiss. "I have a desire to christen every room in this house, starting with this one right now," he growled into Harry's ear.

Harry, somewhat startled about Draco's sudden insistence, didn't put up a fight.

_____________________________________

Their energy was mostly spent by the time they made it up the stairs. Harry had delighted at the vast Master bedroom, and Draco had to talk him out of another round.

"There's one more room I wanted to show you," Draco said, retreating to the hallway. They passed the room he had set up as his office, past another to be used as a guest room, and stopped at the room at the end of the hall. Draco turned to block it before Harry could enter. "I didn't decorate it," he warned, "but I did buy some furniture for it. I couldn't really decorate it yet."

"Why?"

"You'll know why when you see it," Draco smiled. With slightly trembling hands he reached for the doorknob, opened it, and stood aside for Harry to enter.

Harry entered slowly, carefully looking around. Inside the room that had been the baby's room when Draco first toured the house was another, brand-new crib, a new changing table, and a new rocking chair. Harry took each of these things in for a few seconds before turning back to his boyfriend, a large grin across his face.

"Does this mean...?" he whispered, as if he was expecting Draco to announce it was a cruel joke.

Draco nodded, and before he knew it Harry was on top of him, kissing him with a passion he had never experienced before. It was several minutes before the blonde could break free, though he wasn't exactly fighting the affections.

"There are a few things we need to figure out before we go getting Granger knocked up," he smirked. "I want to see those daycares and everything, but I've been talking to Hermione and I think that I'm ready to be a dad."

"Thank you," Harry said, a tear running down his cheek.

"Hermione thinks that we should both come to one of our little lunches before we start the process. She's got some things she'd like to talk to you about."

Harry nodded, unable to stop the stream of tears now cascading down his face. He threw his arms around Draco and kissed his cheek. "I love you. Thank you so much," he whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi, everyone. It's a short chapter, but it gets through a few things. Please review!**

They stopped on the way to Hermione's office to pick up an assortment of Chinese food. They arrived for their lunch appointment just on time, and were immediately welcomed into her office. They laid out the spread and had each had full plates before they got down to business.

"How is the house going?" Hermione asked with a smile.

"It's wonderful," Harry said, smiling discretely at Draco. They had been working hard on Draco's goal of christening every room in the house, and neither had been brimming with energy since moving in.

"I'm assuming that since you've agreed to come here Draco has shared his big decision with you."

Harry nodded enthusiastically.

"How do you feel about it?"

"Excited. Nervous. I want to be a father so bad, but to tell the truth I had sort of given up on it in the past few months."

"Why did you give up?"

"He just seemed so adamant about not wanting children that I figured I'd rather have him around and happy than have a child."

"So you were ready to give up on your dream for Draco?"

Harry took Draco's hand and squeezed it. "Of course, I'd be lying if I'd tell you that I would have given up on it forever, but I figured it was a lost battle for the time being."

"What do you think it's going to be like, being a father?"

"I think it's going to be great. I'm really excited about it."

"Do you have any concerns about it?"

Harry thought about it for a minute. "I just think I'm going to be a natural dad. I think my biggest concern is being overprotective."

"And Draco? What concerns do you have going into this?"

"That our respective backgrounds are going to affect how well we bring up the baby," Draco said, staring into his food.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, both of you have known since square one I'm afraid of becoming like Lucius. But," he said, looking at Harry nervously, "I'm also slightly afraid of how the Dursley's have affected your parenting style."

Harry looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that night when you told me to ignore Rose, that she'd stop crying all on her own, you knew that I didn't want to be babysitting that night, but you refused to get up to feed her and change her. That's a pretty big part of being a parent."

"I'm sorry I didn't go to her. I thought she'd calm down, and since I didn't hear her continue to cry I assumed I was right. I didn't know you got up to deal with her until you told me the next morning. If you had left her I eventually would have given her a bottle."

"There was more of it than giving her a bottle. She needed to eat, get changed, and be cuddled back to sleep. You can't just stick a bottle in her mouth and think that it'll keep her happy for hours. What if she didn't want to go back to sleep?"

Harry was silent.

"It's going to be a big change for us. We're going to have to balance work and being parents, we're not going to be able to go out as much, we're going to get a lot less sleep..."

"I understand, but it's something I really want to do."

Draco squeezed his hand. "I know. And it's something I want to. But I want to make sure we're ready before we've got a baby in the house."

Harry nodded.

Draco checked his watch and stood. "I've got a meeting with George that I'm half an hour late for."

"Do you always go to your meetings late?" Hermione asked, looking nervous.

"No. But he does. I'll still wait fifteen minutes before he shows up. You know how he is," he smiled as he gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek before rushing from the room.

"How much convincing did you have to do to get him to agree to a baby?" Harry asked Hermione.

She shook her head. "I told him I wouldn't talk about what we talked about. Though I will say it was a decision he came to on his own."

"Do you think the Dursleys are going to have an effect on my parenting style?"

"I think they were pretty cruddy mentors in child rearing methods. One child spoiled to the point of becoming wider than he was tall, the other neglected and forced to sleep under some stairs. Neither way is the correct way to raise a child."

"I don't think I came out too bad."

"You didn't come out too bad because, when you were eleven, you were taken out of the situation and given what you considered a proper family. You were resilient. However they were the only parental figures you had."

Harry snorted.

"In a manner of speaking."

"So, what do you think I should do?"

"You know Ron. He was kind of the same way you were- he didn't want to get up to feed her or anything, and would ignore her until I did it or until he woke up. We just had to get creative about making sure he did right by Rose."

"Think it would work for me?"

Hermione shrugged. "You and Draco are going to have to figure out what works for you."

"What did you and Ron do?"

"There's that Muggle device called a baby monitor. We got one and put it on my side of the bed with the volume turned way up. He couldn't turn it off to ignore it, I would shake him, nag him, kick him, whatever until he got out of bed to deal with Rose. If I left for work or went out and he was napping I'd move it to a shelf across the room and put an anti-summoning charm on it, and charms to keep him from silencing it. He'd have to deal with it, and he'd have to get out of bed to do so. It took a while, but now he gets up when he hears the monitor go off."

Harry had pulled out a pad of paper and was furiously writing on it. "Any other tips?"

Hermione reached across the table and pulled Harry's quill away. "All your baby is going to want to do at first is get love and affection from you. You're going to have to hold him or her a lot, make faces at them, rock them to sleep, sing to them. It's very difficult, and Draco is going to resent you if he feels like you aren't pulling your weight as a dad. You need to make sure you don't wind up like the Dursleys or you might lose him."

Harry was quiet for a moment. "You don't think I'm going to lose him anyways, do you?"

Hermione smiled as she shook her head. "A man doesn't agree to do something he was dead set against because he thinks 'what the hell, I'll tie myself to a lifelong commitment today'."

"You better knock it off or you're going to sound like Dumbledore."

"Would that be a bad thing?"

"As long as you don't start wearing spangled purple robes, no."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I had written this chapter, read it, hated it, and had to re-write. Writer's block is a bitch. Finally decided to take it 180 degrees from what I had written (which involved a nasty fight). Hope you like it!**

Harry was sitting in the kitchen when Draco returned from a meeting with George. Draco put his briefcase down as Harry beamed at him.

"What's up?" Draco said curiously, sitting across from Harry.

Harry wordlessly slid a manila envelope across the table at him. Draco opened it hurriedly and examined the contents.

"Is this Ginny?" Draco asked slowly.

Harry nodded, smiling.

"That means...?"

"Seven weeks."

Draco exhaled loudly and sank down into a chair. "This is really happening, then, isn't it?"

Harry nodded again.

Draco examined the sonogram picture for another minute before looking up at Harry, a smile on his face. "Do they know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"They did the magical diagnostic test. It's a boy."

Draco let out a chuckle. "A little boy," he murmured, looking at the ceiling.

"The doctors said..." Harry said slowly, "that it'll be your little boy."

"It'll be _our_ little boy."

"But physically it'll be yours and Ginny's."

"Great. Pointed nose and red hair," Draco smirked.

Harry smiled. "I think you should name him."

"No," Draco said, shaking his head. "It'll be our son. We should pick a name together."

"What were you thinking?"

Draco shrugged. "I never really thought about it before. Did you have anything in mind?"

"I was wondering if we could name him after Dumbledore?" Harry studied Draco's face as he made the suggestion.

Draco sighed. He had suspected this, but he never really thought about how he felt about the situation. He had been hand-selected to be Dumbledore's killer. While he hadn't committed the act, he didn't think himself worthy of having a son with the same name as the man.

"Dumbledore knew that you weren't a killer, that you weren't like them," Harry whispered, as if he knew what Draco was thinking.

"I know, but it still doesn't feel right."

Harry nodded. "If you feel as though you really don't want it, then we'll find another name."

Draco moved around the table so he could hold Harry's hand. "If you really want to, we'll name him Albus. Though I would really like it if we gave him Severus as his middle name."

"Albus Severus..." Harry muttered, smiling.

"It's a big name to live up to."

"I'm sure that he will."

Draco smiled. "Thirty three weeks, then?"

"He's due in the middle of May."

"Are we going to be ready?"

"Well, I'm no Hermione, but I'm sure that in thirty three weeks we can have the room decorated, clothes and toys bought..."

"I know we can have everything we need, I mean are we going to be emotionally ready?"

Harry smiled, and pulled out another slip of paper from his pocket. He held it out to Draco, a triumphant look on his face. "I was worried about that, too. So I booked us for three different parenting classes."

"Three?" Draco asked, his eyebrow raising.

Harry smiled. "I may have overdone it slightly, but I found three that I thought would help. One is your basics, changing diapers, making bottles, when to do this and that. The second is 'Raising a Magical Child' which might be for me more than you, as I have no idea about being magical and raising a child. And the final one is designed for same-sex couples."

Draco nodded. Harry seemed to suddenly realize that they would need a little help in preparing to raise a child, which is something he was worried about all along.

"When do we start decorating?"

Harry grinned stupidly.

"Not tonight. I need some time to let this all sink in."

Harry looked hurt, but was unable to keep the smile off his face. "You know what this means?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "That we're not going to have sex nearly as much as we are now?"

Harry laughed. "That, too. I meant that we're going to have to pick Albus' last name."

"Potter," Draco said with finality.

"Really?"

Draco shrugged. "It might be time to let the Malfoy name die out."

"Are you sure?"

"If we only have one boy it'll have to carry on either the Potter name or the Malfoy name. Of the two one is a bit more honorable. The Malfoy name is mud. I say be done with it."

Harry nodded. "If you want, we could hyphen."

Draco shook his head.

"Your genes, my name."

"Our son."

___

A couple weeks later they had gathered at the Burrow for an celebratory dinner. Several of their friends had crammed into the small area, and Mrs. Weasley made sure that there was her typical overabundance of food. Draco and several of his Slytherin friends, all looking somewhat uncomfortable, had taken refuge in the den.

"So, this is it Drake?" Blaise smirked, studying the room interestedly.

"Not like I have a choice _now_, do I?"

"I knew you were gay, but the Potter thing threw me for a loop."

"Now how come everyone says that?" Pansy pouted. "I didn't know he was gay until he came out, but everyone acts like it wasn't any sort of surprise."

"You were only surprised because you wanted to jump him ever since you hit puberty, so you didn't want to see that Potter was more his type than yours," Theodore Nott explained.

"I still can't believe you're having a baby with him," Pansy pouted.

"What do your parents think?" Blaise asked Draco.

Draco shrugged. "I didn't tell them. I don't know if they know. I don't care."

"Have you talked to them at all?"

"Not since I came out. The last person I want around my child is Lucius."

Blaise nodded knowingly. He hadn't talked to his father since the man went to Azkaban as a convicted Death Eater. While many Slytherin students had proudly declared their support for Voldemort, and several of those had gone to Azkaban alongside their parents, many others had turned their backs on their families and announced support for the Ministry and the Order. They were believed because it was hard to think a child would have the courage and the ability to leave their family , especially if that family was part of a band of known murderers and psychopaths.

"How's Harry dealing?" Theodore asked.

Draco gave an exaggerated sigh. "The man is on a mission. I've created a monster."

Blaise laughed. He looked around for his wife, but she was in the other room with their young daughter and the other mothers and children. "It makes you want to run some days, doesn't it?"

"He's repainted the baby's room three times!" Draco lamented. "He can't decide which blue he likes, and instead of maybe doing a small portion and making a decision he has to paint the whole stinking room."

"Is he making you help?"

"I helped him the first two times. I told him I'll help when he makes a final decision. But if he's going to redecorate seventy times in the next few months I'm not going to encourage it."

"Is he dragging you to all those stupid little classes?"

"Yeah. Though there's no way I'm going to the Lamaze class with him and Ginny."

"You're not going to be in the room when he's born?" Pansy asked in surprise.

Draco shuddered and shook his head.

"It really is a special moment," Blaise encouraged.

"It's a bloody, screaming, chaotic mess that would require me to see more of Ginny Weasley than I ever wanted to see. No thank you, I'll go in right after he's born, but I really don't want to see that."

Theodore's eyebrow was raised. "You still scared of kids?"

"I'm not quite as bad as I was."

"But you are?"

Draco swirled his drink and stared at it. "I don't think I'll ever fully be comfortable with children. But I feel like I'm over it enough I could do right by a child."

Blaise patted Draco's shoulder. "You'll do great, mate. You are certainly not the guy we knew at Hogwarts."

"Thank Merlin."

"None of us are!" Theodore laughed. "Seriously, if you asked my sixteen year old self if I ever thought I'd be sitting at the Weasley's, eating dinner like it's no big deal, and thinking that I've been missing something for many years I would have told you that you needed a good long stay at St. Mungo's."

"Missing something?" Pansy asked.

"Have you tasted this food?" Theodore said, hoisting his plate up. "If I had tasted this at ten years old I would have been a Gryffindor!"

**I'm nervous about what you all think about this chapter, because it's much more fluff than before. But I tried to stay true to what I've seen IRL. Please leave a review and tell me what you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Harry has to confront some demons in this chapter, hopefully I did okay. I'm thinking there'll be another chapter, maybe two, before Albus is born.**

"Afternoon, 'Mione," Harry entered her office with a big hug and some carryout.

Hermione hugged him in greeting, and they took up their posts on each side of her desk.

"How are you classes going?" Hermione asked, taking the top off a cup of soup.

"Same shit, different day."

"You know, with the amount you and Draco curse Albus' first word is going to be inappropriate."

Harry beamed. "Just like his daddies!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "How is Draco holding up? He had to cancel our last lunch meeting to go to what he was sure was the eighth class you've dragged him to."

Harry replied by grinning sheepishly. "I know it sounds stupid, but I've never raised a child, much less in the magical world. I have no idea about magical transportation with a family, and I'm sure Draco could have used a refresher."

"There is such a thing as overdoing it, Harry."

"I know, I know," Harry sighed. "I'm just worried about something coming up that I don't know how to deal with."

"A lot of it is instinct. No matter how many classes you take you're not going to know everything. Anyone can read books, not everyone can do it. It's like in classes, you can study for hours, but no matter how much you can recite you can walk into the practical exam, wave your wand, and make your hedgehog start smoking instead of changing it into a teapot."

"I'm just scared, 'Mione."

"About what?"

Harry put his fork down and stared at the desk. "Of winding up like the Dursleys."

Hermione nodded.

"I've thought about it. A lot. As much as I know they're horrible role models, they're the only ones I had. And sometimes I'll be sitting in class and thinking 'do I really have to do all that?' I mean, I didn't get all sorts of love and attention and I don't feel like I've turned out that bad, and I shouldn't be motivated to do the bare minimum because I don't think that Albus will wind up that bad, I should be motivated to do as much as I can to show him love and support because I want him to be a better person than I ever was."

Hermione studied her friend for a moment. "What part of you do you think needs improving?"

Harry chuckled. "There's that bit of a reckless, impulsive streak that's gotten me into a couple spots of trouble."

"But you were always able to get out."

"At what price? If I had thought for a few more minutes then I would have thought of Sirius' mirror and I might not have rushed off to the Ministry and he wouldn't be dead," Harry snapped bitterly.

"Are you so sure you would have thought of it?" Hermione replied quietly, cautiously.

Harry sat, fuming.

Hermione ate her food quietly as Harry calmed down slightly.

"You look like you desperately want to say something," Harry said gloomily, looking at the desk.

Hermione sighed, looking for the delicate way to say what she wanted to say. "Draco comes to talk to me because he recognizes he has an anger problem, and that he's prone to quick temper outbursts. We've worked very hard on stress management techniques and what to do if he does lose his temper so he won't take it out on the baby. But at times I'm more worried about your temper, because it's so subtle, but when it comes up you are very difficult to calm down, you do things out of impulse, and you beat yourself up for what you do for a long time."

"He wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for me! I have every right to beat myself up over it!"

"You did what anyone else in the situation would have done. You thought someone you loved was in danger, you did your best to go to his rescue. Things went wrong, and Sirius got killed. Do you think he'd want you sulking over it years later?"

Harry didn't vocalize, he rather shook his head curtly one time.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear right now, but there's a good chance that your son isn't going to be perfect. In fact, I'd be willing to bet he does things at some point that gets him in trouble or embarrasses you at some point. And you can't think of it as 'where did I go wrong in teaching him that he did that' because it's not going to help. You're going to have to think of how you can help him grow from it."

Harry exhaled loudly.

"Like it or not, Albus is being born into a family that has, to steal a popular phrase, a lot of explaining to do. You're the so-called Savior of the Wizarding World, and he's going to want to know about everything that entails. And at some point you're going to have to explain that Mark on Daddy Draco's arm, and everything he did. You can't just glaze over Draco's past because it's not pleasant. Albus has the right to know about both his parents, about their motivations, their histories, how their life got from 'crying, needy, pooping mess' to the man they are today. There's two ways to go about it, either you sulk about it and get moody whenever you mention the tough bits, or you show him how you learned from it."

"Had this same speech with Draco, did you?"

Hermione smiled. "A couple weeks ago, though admittedly more geared towards his scenario."

"What did he say?"

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "I told him I wouldn't discuss what we talked about in our private sessions. I've probably said too much by admitting I gave him the 'speech'."

"Sneaky git," Harry smirked.

"Don't call him that. He is one of the fathers of your child."

______

Draco knocked on the door quietly and moved his feet nervously until the door to the flat opened.

"Draco?" Ginny said, looking confused. She quickly stood aside and made a motion for him to enter.

"Sorry for the intrusion. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing," Draco said quickly as they sat on the couch together.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like I'm going out at night anymore."

"I brought chocolates. Harry might have let slip they're your craving," Draco smiled, pressing a large box of Chocolate Frogs into her hands.

Ginny chuckled and set the box on her coffee table.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pregnant. Like more pregnant than I should."

"How far along is it now?"

"Don't act like Harry doesn't have a countdown calendar in your bedroom."

Draco smiled. "You're seven months, twelve days."

"And thirteen hours."

"Don't have it down to the minute yet?"

"I'm sure Harry does," Ginny smiled. "But I'm assuming that you didn't come over just for a friendly little chit-chat."

"You don't think I'd want to see how my child is doing?"

"You haven't before."

"I need a reminder that it's all happening," Draco said, looking at the bump in her stomach.

Ginny took his hand and guided it to her stomach. After it had stood there for a moment Draco felt something bump against it.

"Oh, Merlin," he whispered as the bump came again.

"I've felt him doing that for a while now. It's cute when you put your hand on it, it's annoying when he's kicking my bladder at two in the morning."

Draco smiled. "That's his Daddy's genes. Always bugging anything with the last name 'Weasley'."

Ginny smiled. "Harry driven you bonkers with all those classes yet?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Teachers don't go through as much training as I have to sit through."

"Don't get all dramatic on me."

"Fine. I heard you were dating Seamus now."

"Yeah, we've been dating a couple of months now. It was a bit awkward telling him I was pregnant, but he got over it when I told him that it was yours and Harry's and not something I was keeping."

"Do you think it's going to be hard for you to give him up?"

"Immensely. But I know I'm going to be able to visit him all the time, and that he's going to a good home. You and Harry are going to be great parents."

"I sure hope so."

"I know so. I wouldn't have agreed to carry him if I wasn't sure."

Draco smiled weakly.

"I know you're nervous, Draco. I know that it'll be tough because of what Lucius did to you. But I know you're better than him. You'll do fine." She reached out and embraced him in a hug.

"You're a wonderful person. Can I do something for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'd like to send you and Seamus on a vacation after he's born. When you're ready."

"Oh, Draco, I don't need you to buy me anything. I'm doing this because I love you and Harry. You shouldn't spend money on me."

"My grandfather put half of the Malfoy fortune into a vault at Gringotts for me because he didn't trust Lucius. There's more than enough in there to send the woman carrying my child on a nice vacation and still send Albus to the best schools he could ever desire to go to. Please, pick a place, and I'll pay."

"Thank you, Draco," Ginny nodded quietly. "You certainly are different than what you were in Hogwarts."

"We all are."

"Well, if Harry wasn't going to be with me, I'm glad he found someone who makes him as happy as you do."

Draco smiled.

"Now, if you have some time, take a pregnant woman shopping. It's getting hard for me to push the big, heavy carts around."

"Really?" Draco asked, concern in his voice.

"No," Ginny smiled back. "I just like the company, and having a handsome Slytherin on my arm is a definite perk."

"Well then," Draco said, relief flooding his body. "Shall we?" he stood, bowed, and offered his hand to Ginny, who took it with a laugh.

**Review, please.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. It took some time and energy to write this chapter, as I wanted to make sure it was done right. I hope you like it. Please review.**

Harry was bent over his paperwork, trying to get as much as he could done. The baby was due in a couple days and he wanted to get as much as possible done before he became 'Daddy'. He had been putting in extra hours, even extra days, trying to get ahead.

"Knock, knock," came a voice from the door of his office.

Harry looked up to see Draco standing there, smiling at him. He smiled back and nearly vaulted over the desk to envelop his boyfriend in a hug and a kiss. "What are you doing here?"

"This seems like the only way I could spend any time with you recently," Draco responded, eyeing the large stack of papers on Harry's desk.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. You know me."

"Procrastinator extraordinaire, I know. If Hermione wasn't there, would you have ever survived Hogwarts?"

"No, but for good measure Ron would have gotten kicked out with me."

"Oh, that's saying something."

"Draco..." Harry frowned unconvincingly.

Draco smiled with all the arrogance he had at Hogwarts. "I'm taking you to lunch."

Harry sighed. "I was going to try to finish this stuff today so I can go home and make sure everything is ready."

"Fine, I'll take you down to the cafeteria, but I am taking you to lunch."

Harry smiled. "You twisted my arm. Let's go." He and Draco set off out of the Auror office, through the Ministry until they got to the cafeteria. They got their food, paid, and sat at an empty table on one side of the room.

"Do you promise you're going to be done today?" Draco said, poking at his salad. "I miss you."

"Yeah, I promise I'll be done. I wanted to spend a couple days alone before Ginny has our baby."

"I was worried about her dropping that baby at the dinner table last night."

"She is looking pretty pregnant, isn't she?"

"What would you expect her to look like?" Draco said, raising an eyebrow.

Harry shrugged. "How's work?"

"George keeps giving me shit for 'knocking his sister up', even though I didn't get to have any of the fun."

"Sounds like typical George."

"I told him I had plenty of fun," Draco said with a smirk.

"Draco," Harry hissed, looking around and blushing.

"You don't mind kissing in public, you let me grab your ass in clubs, but at the first mention of sex and you get all shy."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"I finished putting all the gifts people have been sending us away. Albus is going to have more stuff than he's going to know what to do with."

"He didn't get that much stuff," Harry fake-pouted.

"Harry, we have enough outfits that he won't have to wear the same thing twice in a month. You don't think it was overdone a little bit?"

Harry smiled sheepishly. "I was just accounting for all the outfits that he's going to spit-up on."

Draco repressed a shudder. He was certainly not looking forward to all the messes that were in his immediate future, but it was part of having a baby. "I guess that's what the closet full of diapers are for, too."

"Of course. He's going to use them eventually."

"Ugh," Draco groaned.

Harry looked at him, a somewhat worried look on his face.

"What?" Draco said.

"Are you sure you're OK with this?"

Draco put down his fork and took Harry's hand. "I'm definitely ready for this," he said, smiling. "It's just, well, you know me. I'm not a huge fan of messes, so a bunch of spit up and shit isn't exactly my idea of a good time. But that's just a small part of taking care of our baby, so I'll deal with a little mess once in a while."

"Wait until he's a toddler and leaving his toys all over the place."

"And that's where I'm glad we're Wizards. I don't know how Muggles do it, they must be constantly picking up toys."

"Don't tell me your parents never made you pick up your toys."

"Er," Draco hesitated. He didn't like mentioning the work he and his parents had made Dobby do. Harry had nothing but respect for the house-elf and didn't like mention of his past abuse.

Harry looked at his sandwich, a sign he knew the response.

"George invited us over for dinner tonight," Draco said, trying to change the subject.

"That sounds good," Harry nodded. "Is Angelina going to be there?"

"She says she wouldn't miss it for the world."

"She likes seeing me that much?"

"No. She likes reminiscing about all the great matches Gryffindor had against Slytherin. It's hard for me to defend myself, outnumbered three to one."

Harry started laughing, but his face immediately fell. His eyes got wide, his face paled, and he gazed in shock at something behind Draco.

"Hello, Draco," came Lucius' slow drawl sounded behind him.

Draco stiffened, stood, and turned slowly to see his father and mother standing there. "Lucius," he muttered, his face hardening.

"Draco," Narcissa said, an undertone of pleading in her voice.

"What are you doing here?" Draco snapped.

"We were just inquiring about a couple items seized from the Manor. You?"

"Lunch with Harry."

"I see," Lucius gazed at Harry, who was looking defiant. "Still together, are you?"

"Yes, we are!" Harry shouted, a little too loudly, causing nearby heads to turn towards them. "In fact, we're expecting a baby by this time next week!"

"A baby?" Lucius turned back to Draco, an eyebrow upturned. Beside him Narcissa was looking horrified.

"Yes," Draco murmured. Anger bubbled inside him. He wished Harry hadn't said anything, he had planned on never telling Lucius about his child. If Lucius had read about it in the Prophet he wouldn't bother confronting his son about it.

"And is Potter planning on delivering said child?" Lucius asked with a sneer.

"Ginny Weasley is carrying our child," Harry snapped in another unwelcome intrusion.

"The Weasley girl, you say?" Lucius stiffened. "Well, if you're going to go Blood-Traitor you might as go all the way, right, Draco?"

"It would seem," Draco replied bitterly.

"Is it Potter and Weasley's or yours and Weasley's?" Narcissa asked, fake scorn in her voice.

"The baby is genetically mine," Draco said, answering only because he knew Narcissa was truly concerned about the son she was too afraid to visit.

"So, we'll be proud grandparents?" Lucius scoffed.

"No, you'll be absent grandparents," Draco responded, fists clenching. "Don't come anywhere near my child, Lucius. You're not welcome."

"Trust me, I have no desire to come near the brat of blood-traitors. Especially such a blood-traitor as you. You're pathetic, Draco. You've had it all, and you threw it away for Potter," Lucius spat the last word.

"Best decision I've ever made," Draco spat back, loud enough that several more people stopped to watch the exchange.

Lucius stood up as tall as he could, glancing at all the eyes on him. "I sincerely hope you aren't planning on sullying the Malfoy family name by giving it to your little demon."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Draco shot back, turning away from his father.

Lucius let out a noise not unlike a growl, then turned to leave. "Come, Narcissa," he barked, striding away.

Narcissa looked pitifully at Draco's back, then at Harry before turning and obediently following Lucius from the cafeteria.

"They're gone," Harry murmured as Draco slid back into his chair. "Do you want to leave?" he asked tentatively.

"No," Draco said, pushing what was left of his salad around on his plate. "Let's finish eating."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine," Draco snapped. They ate for a few minutes in silence, Harry afraid to say anything, before Draco nearly whispered, "I wanted to hit him."

"He would have deserved it."

"If anyone deserves to be slugged it's Lucius Malfoy, but what good would that do?"

"None whatsoever. The prat would probably press charges or something."

"He wanted me to hit him. If I had it would have proved that I was no better than he was."

Harry nodded. "You're definitely a different person than your father, Draco. You're different than when I first met you."

Draco smiled weakly. "Thank you, Harry."

Harry moved to his side of the table so he could wrap his arms around him in a supportive hug. "You're a much better person than your father, Draco," he whispered into the blonde hair.

Draco tightened his grip on his boyfriend momentarily, grateful for the support.

"Harry!" a voice came from behind them. They pulled apart to see Seamus running towards them. "I've been looking all over for your guys," he said as he reached the table. "Ginny went into labor. The baby's coming," he beamed.

Harry and Draco looked at each other, then rushed from the cafeteria.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: You're going to have to wait another chap for the baby. I wanted to say I never meant to portray Narcissa as anything but another victim of Lucius', and so I've written this chapter for two reasons. The first being I wanted to give her back story, because abuse rarely affects only one person in the family, the second because I wanted her to leave Lucius, which would be humiliating for a man of his stature. I hope I've done this well. Please leave a review.**

Her head hung as she lovingly stroked a picture of her son. How could it have gotten to this? She had risked her life betraying the Dark Lord's wishes to make sure he was safe, and now she had turned her back on him.

It had started with Bellatrix. She had always been the domineering one in the family. At a young age Bella had started guiding her and her thinking, no matter how much Andromeda tried to talk reason into her. At Hogwarts she had been immediately sorted into Slytherin, like the rest of her family before her, and the same rhetoric continued to be swirled around her constantly. And her heart had started to harden. Andromeda was the black sheep of the family, if she had been able to stay at school during the summers she never would have seen her home again. She was with her Gryffindor friends constantly, and while she occasionally sent sympathetic looks at her sisters who were visibly cold on the outside, she was truly happy.

Her own ray of sunshine had been the moment that Bella had managed to introduce her properly to Lucius Malfoy, a year older than she, and considered quite a catch for any worthy Slytherin girl. He had taken a liking to her quickly, and they had spent the first night together talking in front of the fire. He was a gentleman, well bred, kissing her hand lightly as she ascended her staircase. She had fallen for him that night.

He was reluctant to call what they had a relationship for several months. He always had an eye on other girls, and she had to become more and more affectionate to make him return his gaze to her. He had mentioned that he thought she'd look better with her shoulder-length hair longer, and she ordered a hair lengthening potion that night and had waist-length locks three days later. When he said that her face looked a little plain she started wearing makeup. Her skirts got shorter, her blouses cut lower, her heels higher, all because Lucius had told her it would make her more attractive, and she was afraid that she'd lose him if she didn't listen. She did everything he ever wanted, except sleep with him, to show how dedicated she was to him.

One night he was waiting for her as she came in from a night hanging out with Bella and a few of her friends. He was sitting in front of the fire, arms crossed, glaring daggers at her as she entered. Bella immediately herded their friends upstairs, leaving the two alone. Lucius laid into her, accusing her of seeing another man, calling her a whore, saying she was worthless and he would be better without her. She started crying, pleading, hysterically explaining that she was with her sister and friends and nothing more, and asking what she could do to prove that she loved him. She had given herself to him that night, and afterwards he finally acknowledged her as 'his'. Later she found out he and Bella had staged the whole thing, to help her 'get over her fear of intimacy'.

Lucius had gone the old-fashioned way of proposing marriage- to her father. He agreed to betroth his middle daughter to a Malfoy immediately, was enthusiastic that someone of his status was willing to marry her. A large wedding was planned, with Lucius hovering over many of the details. The guest list was heavily his, he felt it was more important that those he wanted were there, and many of her friends and family were excluded. He gave her a list of exactly what he expected out of her wedding dress, and even though she though it more revealing and tight than she had desired, she caved to his demands. He set the menu, he ran the rehearsal, and the day of he dragged his new bride around to make conversation with another distant relative while she neglected her own grandmother.

Things went as normal for the first year of life. Occasionally he would make a remark about her gaining weight, or not dressing 'properly', and she stumbled over herself to please him.

He first out-and-out yelled at her when she had accidentally knocked a picture of him getting an award for something-or-other over while she was re-arranging the stuff on the mantle. It could be easily repaired with a wand and laughed off, but for some reason he blew his top. He called her a worthless, clumsy idiot, and told her she was lucky someone such as himself was willing to marry such filth. He wondered loudly how someone like her had ever managed to get into Slytherin, that Hufflepuff would have been a better choice as it was the house for Squibs.

She had admitted the incident to Bella and Andromeda at their next 'sister lunch'. Bella agreed with Lucius, she was lucky to have landed such a fine gentleman, and that she should do whatever he wanted to make sure that he stayed with her. Andromeda was horrified, and told her she was willing to take her in and help her make the split from Lucius quickly and cleanly. She and Bella got into a loud argument, Andromeda re-iterated her offer and stormed form the restaurant. It would be the last time the sisters would speak peacefully, and the last time Bellatrix and Andromeda talked at all.

As the Dark Lord became more powerful, Lucius' verbal assaults came quicker and meaner. She walked on eggshells around her own home, hoping that whatever she did would meet Lucius' approval, and fearing his wrath if it didn't. They got the house-elf, Dobby, but she would often follow him around re-doing whatever chore he had just completed to make sure it was up to her husband's ridiculously high standards.

She discovered she was pregnant and felt relief. Lucius had wanted a son to carry his name, and now she was able to provide him with one. His words had stopped, and he appeared to be a loving, doting husband towards the end of her pregnancy. She gave birth without a problem, and went into 'loving mother' mode. She stayed with young Draco while Lucius went to work, and to the unknowing eye they were nothing short of the ideal loving family.

When Draco was a year old, Lucius' verbal barrages came back with a vengeance. The Dark Lord had fallen, bested by an infant, and he was doing what he could to sever his ties to Voldemort. He had been named several times during Death Eater's trials, and while he was able to keep his composure in front of Ministry Officials, he took his frustrations out on his young wife, and occasionally his naive son who didn't know why his father was so upset his toys were strewn across the floor.

The first beating came one night after Draco had gone to bed. She was sick, and it was taking her longer than usual to clean up his toy room. Dobby was busy cleaning the rest of the house, and rather than wait for him to make his way upstairs she was doing the task herself. Lucius came in, drunk, demanding sex. She tried to stall, she was in no mood, and he started hitting her, telling her it was her duty to please him. She gave into him quickly, to avoid the pain.

And the sex. The sex had never been all that great. It was Lucius getting what Lucius wanted. When he was done, they were done, if she was satisfied or not. And she was rarely satisfied. A couple of times, early on, she and done the job herself, once Lucius had fallen asleep or left, but he had caught her once, and the result was a day full of unsatisfactory and, at times, painful sex, and she had been to scared to satisfy herself again. Afterwards he decided that she was no longer enough to satisfy her needs, and he would often be out at all hours with young, beautiful women who had no idea what they were messing with.

Lucius had started beating Draco when he was just four. At first the thought of his abuses being passed on to her child horrified her, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she had no where to go. She wasn't speaking to Andromeda, Bella was in Azkaban on her way to insanity if not there already, her parents were dead, and she hadn't spoke to any of her friends since just after her wedding. She stayed in the marriage for lack of anywhere else to go. She stayed to protect Draco, she knew that should she try to leave with him Lucius would just charm any court into awarding him his son back.

And yet, Draco had escaped on his own. Hogwarts had helped him know a little independence, and none less than Harry Potter himself was there to show him the rest of the way. Never once, in those last few weeks of battle, would she have ever thought Harry would save Draco's life, not once, but twice, though she never thought she would save his. Her heart broke the day Draco informed them that he was gay and moving in with Harry, she knew that Lucius would cut him out of their lives and that she would not be able to see him as often, if ever. But part of her was relieved, he would be out of Lucius' clutches.

Somehow Draco had decided he and Potter would make good parents, and they had gotten Ginny Weasley pregnant. Regardless of the mechanics, it was Draco's child, thus her grandchild. He had told them they weren't welcome in the child's life, no, he had told Lucius he wasn't welcome. By extension she wasn't welcome. Either she went and worried about Lucius' wrath later, or she would never see the child. She would continuously lose more and more of her family, just because of the ring that rested on her left hand.

Why? Why was she still chained of Lucius? The Wizarding World now knew what scum he was- you didn't host the Dark Lord at your home for months on end without being known as scum. How he ever escaped Azkaban was beyond her, his silver tongue saved him yet again, but not with the vast majority of English Wizard and Witches, just with the idiots at the Ministry who were stupid in the greatest measure of the word. After the war they were overtaxed, stressed, and constantly belittled by those who had lost family members. Lucius, who could read anyone like a book, probably knew exactly what moment he could plead his case and stand the greatest chance of getting off, and his gamble paid off. He celebrated by spending the night with two young Muggle girls, then coming home and telling her the war had left her looking old and ugly.

Sobbing slightly she stood and rushed thorough the house. She threw as many of her clothes as she could into her small trunk, added a few mementos of Draco she knew would be destroyed in rage soon, and finally gathered the few family heirlooms that had survived Lucius' many years of rants. She decided no note was necessary, she left her wedding band on his pillow as the only hint of what was going on. She had to hurry. He would be home any minute. She gathered her things, placed a spell on them to make them lighter, stole the bag of emergency gold Lucius' kept in his drawer, and rushed from the Manor. She disappeared with a pop.

The small house was warm and inviting in the brisk twilight. Smoke curled lazily from the chimney, and she could see figures moving around in the windows. She couldn't return here before, she had tried once after a night of brutal beating at Lucius' hands, but the place had been made Unplottable and been given a secret-keeper. She couldn't enter it's boundaries, and had no choice but return to Lucius. But the wards were down now, the war long over. Her knees were weak, her mouth dry, and she had no idea how she managed to make her way to the door. Inside she heard music playing, and a child laughing. With a pit in her stomach she now remembered that her nieces' son was now living there, never to know his parents.

She didn't remember knocking, maybe she didn't. Somehow the door opened wide to her, and the child stood there. His hair, as she watched him, went from a playful multitude of colors to a soft brown.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"Andromeda?" she muttered, unable to say anything else.

"Grandma!" he called, returning to the depths of the house, leaving the door slightly ajar.

She wanted to run. Why did she come here? What was Lucius going to do when he found out? Would he come after her? Was she in danger now?

The soft features of Andromeda came around the corner quickly. She opened the door cautiously, and a look of shock crossed her face, but only for a moment. The door opened wide to accept her sister, and the moment she was inside Andromeda muttered "Cissy," and took her sister in her arms, knowing in that moment everything that was happening.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I promised you the birth of Albus Severus this chapter, and I'm finally delivering (no pun intended). It's a little shorter than usual, and a little fluffy, but aren't the births of babys usually a bit fluffy? (Save for those of us who actually have to deliver said baby, but that's neither here nor there). Please review! And thanks to everyone who has left a review so far.**

The perfect white waiting room irritated him. White wasn't calming at all, and whoever told the people who designed this room otherwise was an idiot. White reminded him that he was, in fact, in a hospital, and that was stress-inducing no matter what you were there for.

He couldn't sit on the chairs any longer, so he stood and started pacing. Right now Ginny was the only one giving birth, so he didn't have any other nervous family members to deal with. Maybe if he saw someone having a worse meltdown than he was it would boost his confidence.

He had tried sitting in the room with Ginny and Harry, but the first time that the doctor had lifted the blanket to check on her he had left with no intentions of returning. There were lines of decency he didn't want to cross, besides the fact that he had no desire to have George giving him constant shit over seeing more of his sister than he wanted men, even gay men, to see.

He paced for the sake of doing something with his feet. Every so often someone would open the door at the far end of the room, but most often it was someone in search of the vending machine. Twice it was Harry who rattled off a list of numbers that were he figured were supposed to tell him that Ginny was progressing with the labor.

When the door opened again he didn't even bother to look up. If it was Harry he would call his name, grab his hand, do something to help calm him down, which was something he sorely needed at the moment.

"Draco?" a meek voice called, and he stopped short. He turned to see his mother and her sister standing a few feet away, looking nervous.

"Mom?" he asked stupidly as if he didn't know who she was. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you think I'd want to miss the birth of my Grandson?" she said with a faint smile.

"Don't tell me Lucius is here."

"He's not. I left him," another faint smile.

Draco felt a wide smile cross his face as he rushed to his mother to envelop her in a hug. "_Finally_," he whispered.

"I wouldn't have without you," she sat, motioning to a seat next to him. Andromeda sat behind her sister, a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"What made you see the light?"

"Your son. I've been losing more and more people because of Lucius, it was time to get some of them back. And, more importantly, not be an 'absent grandparent', if that's fine with you."

"Why wouldn't it be fine with me?" Draco smiled. "I didn't like you being Lucius' little puppy, following him around obediently no matter how shitty he treated you. Sorry, Aunt 'Dromeda."

"No problem," Andromeda smiled.

"But if he's out of the picture I'd love to have you back in my life. Do you need a place to stay? Harry and I have a spare room."

"I'll be staying with Andromeda for a while, just until I can get a job and find a place to stay by myself," Narcissa nodded tiredly.

"I could hire you," Draco said.

"That's funny."

"I'm serious. I'm going to spend all sorts of money on a daycare, I could hire you."

"Did you talk to Harry about this?"

"Obviously not. I probably should."

"This might not be the best time to be talking about that sort of thing."

"Harry isn't going to put that boy down for the first few months if I let him."

"Maybe I should move in with you. For extra muscle for when you want a few minutes with... what's his name going to be?"

"Albus Severus."

"Ugh," Andromeda made an involuntary noise. Narcissa and Draco looked at her, eyebrows raised in unison. "You're naming your child after _Snape_?"

"He was a good man," Draco protested.

"He was a cranky git. He always acted like someone had put dung on his pillow."

Narcissa laughed, and Draco paused. He couldn't remember the last time he heard that laugh.

"Probably because someone usually did," Harry's voice floated from behind them.

They all looked at him expectantly.

"Not me, of course," he smiled. "That was more Fred and George's thing."

"Don't be an arse," Draco muttered. "How is she?"

"Would you like to go meet your son?" Harry beamed.

Draco felt his knees go weak. Harry came and helped him up, and they started towards the room. Draco had all sorts of questions, but his mouth wouldn't form words. Narcissa and Andromeda followed behind, murmuring in excitement. Harry led them down the hallway, opened the door to Ginny's room, and stepped back to let them inside.

Albus was curled up in Ginny's arms. It was obvious from across the room that this was Draco's son. His skin was already pale, his nose pointed, and he had...

"Red hair," Draco said with a fake groan.

"What can I say? Us Weasleys have strong genes."

Draco could just stare at the tiny boy.

"You have five seconds to pick him up, or you're going to have to wait for the next one," Ginny said with a chuckle.

Draco leaned forward, holding his arms out, but he was shaking. He looked so tiny, he was afraid of breaking him. Slowly he cradled the tiny infant and brought his arms back to him, feeling the warmth coming from the tiny body. Albus stirred, repositioned his head against Draco's chest, and was back asleep.

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" Harry murmured, wrapping an arm around Draco's waist and giving him a peck on the cheek.

"That would be from his Daddy," Draco aid confidently. Ginny threw a small pillow at him which Narcissa reached up and blocked.

"How are you feeling, Dear?" Andromeda asked, sitting in a chair next to Ginny's bed.

"Like someone crashed the Knight Bus between my legs," Ginny replied.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Can't wait for you to get over that pain potion."

"I'm over that already. This is one hundred percent Weasley charm. And you can't get rid of it because you're going to owe me for the rest of your lives for giving you such a beautiful baby. How are you, Mrs. Tonks?"

"Certainly not feeling like someone crashed a bus into me."

"And you, Mrs. Malfoy?" she said, eyeing Draco's mother as if she still couldn't believe she was in the room.

"Call me Sissy," Narcissa smiled at her. "And I'm doing well, though no one really gives a damn about Grandmother, do they?"

"Of course we do," Harry cautiously placed a hand on hers. "You're part of our family."

_Our family_. The words bounced in Draco's head. He hadn't felt as though he had a proper family in years, and suddenly he was surrounded by one. And a happy one. Harry moved so they were standing, facing each other, Albus sleeping happily in between them. He leaned forward and kissed the raven-haired boy and felt complete.


End file.
